This hike on Mt. Hood combined five different trails to make a fantastic loop through multiple ravines, meadows, over creeks, rivers and waterfalls. There were wildflowers blooming and snow still on the trail at the same time. We had perfect weather in the 80's with blue skies all around. This was also the last hike of August's hike-a-thon for Washington Trails Association. This is our second year to take part in this fund-raising event and I have to say hiking with a laminated marmot named Miles is actually a lot more fun than it sounds. We do all sorts of goofy things with him and his personality really comes out on the trail....especially when blueberries are involved! We'll miss you Miles, but look forward to hiking with you next summer! Thanks WTA for all your hard work on trails!
The trail started out on a very popular section. We braced ourselves for seeing humans at least for the first few miles to the waterfall everyone likes to go see. But since many schools in the area had just started back up this week, the trail was luckily pretty empty. In fact by the time we got to the waterfall we only had seen a handful of people and had the waterfall entirely to ourselves!
After taking some time to enjoy ourselves we continued down the path starting to gain in elevation as we moved higher up the mountain. We discovered a theme on this hike.....pockets. I am not talking about my own pockets mind you (even though I had many on me). We came across pocket meadows everywhere. Then there were the pocket creeks and pocket waterfalls. I was becoming obsessed with pockets!! Let me share with you what some of these look like!
Pocket meadow in yellow.
Pocket meadow in purple.
Pocket creek to hop over.
Mossy pocket creek to hop over.
Pocket shower to play in.
Okay, you get the idea. I could go on and on and show you many more pocket items. Let's just say we were having a really good time enjoying the show on the trail. It seemed there were new discoveries around every bend, every tree and every boulder. I had done this loop only once before about two years ago. It was a very different experience then and I didn't get to truly enjoy myself like I was today. There were a couple of reasons for this. First, anytime you do a trail system for the first time (especially one combining multiple trails together) you really have to pay attention. You have to watch your map, and be super alert to all junctions. You check your mileage to make sure you haven't missed a turn off. You watch the land marks and elevation carefully. You have to be more mentally switched on to the process of hiking on a virgin hike. But once you have done it before, then you can leave the maps at home and just relax and enjoy yourself. The second reason I couldn't really enjoy it the first time was that I was very stressed out about the upcoming river crossings.
You see river crossings and I have a love hate relationship. I still have some level of PTSD every time I hear that roar telling me a river is coming that I will have to ford. To understand this you have to remember that two out of the three times I have knocked myself out on the trail have been on river crossings. I lost my ability to remember names because of river crossings! At least there is one good thing when you knock yourself out at a river crossing. The cold water revives you pretty quickly. So I haven't drowned yet! But if I am going to have an accident on the trail, it is likely going to be fording something I probably should not be fording. But since I don't have a real great voice of reason on the trail, I tend to try things that can be a bit foolish. (For the record the third trail knock out was on a snow hike when I thought it would be fun to tie waxed short skies to my boots and tell the Wolf to mush....bad idea. The whole hike out I was convinced my crampons were called croutons and that I had crushed them on my back when I hit my head......oh what a hike that was!).
But on this hike there are some real tough river crossings. I would rate them in my top 5 most difficult fords of any hikes I have done. The first one (the easiest one) you literally have to ford a fast current directly above a waterfall in a channel. Let me tell you that standing directly above a rocky high waterfall in raging cold water that is trying to sweep you off your feet completely lights your soul on fire and makes you want to pee your pants all at the same time. Do that while carrying one dog in your arms, with a pack on your back, and while tied to a big Wolf and it is something you won't ever forget. That was our first time. Today, I only had Josie the Wolf with me so knew it would easier. The other river fords on this hike were in deep ravines with chest deep water of pure glacial melt, super fast currents, wide expanses with high banks difficult to scramble back up.....you get the picture. In fact, one of these rivers is where Josie first got swept off her feet by the current while tied to me, truly an experience burned into both of our synapses.
The first time I had done this trail, I had been so stressed about the upcoming river fords and whether I could even complete the loop that I didn't get to enjoy myself. Today that was all different. I knew exactly what to expect and felt confident and relaxed. Not having some unknown worry in my head made all the difference to me. I like to know what to expect which I suppose feeds my controlling nature. Even Josie was super relaxed on the trail today and started to pose for me. (Part of that was probably because she was particularly liking the treats I put in my treat pouch for her.)
For a couple of miles one of the trails on this loop takes you under ski lifts. It feels a little surreal to walk under lifts of all sizes. Some are small and could only hold one person. Others are super wide and could easily hold a family of four. The weird thing today was that almost every lift was running.....slowly moving those empty chairs up and down the mountain. They were almost silent as they moved, but incredibly eerie as if the world had ended and we were the only ones left behind. As we crossed under each one the moving shadows from those chairs made us both jumpy. Josie has never seen a human in a chair lift, but she watched them carefully as if she knew that was a possibility. Thank goodness we never saw one as she surely would have had a terrible panic attack and drug me off the mountain if she had! It would be worse than seeing a human on the back of a horse for sure. I am not sure either of us would ever recover.
The trail dipped in and out of treeline passing through a riot of flower filled meadows and scenery so beautiful that it made me feel downright selfish. Sometimes the beauty of this planet truly just takes my breath away! This is one of those hikes where you experience a little of everything and each of those things is astoundingly beautiful. I enjoyed the scent of warmed evergreen boughs, soft damp soil, so many flower scents blended together, and green grasses carried to me on the gentle breeze. I could feel my breathing slow down and my very body line up to be in tune with the earth moving beneath my feet. This is what draws me to the trail like a moth to a flame. I cannot explain how amazing it feels to be one with nature. To feel one with the Creator of all good things. I am a different person on the trail than off because of this effect. I am an addict.
But I couldn't enjoy those feelings of addiction for long as the trail finally brought me to the waterfall crossing which pulled my mind out of its reverie. I laughed as Josie looked back at me clearly feeling the same thing I was. This was not nearly as hard as we remembered it to be! We smiled as we forded our way across the water. The water was not as deep as I remembered, only being probably mid-calf on me. Once we got around to the other side, I stopped to take some photos of these falls as the sun was getting lower in the sky. If you look closely in the second and third photos here at the top of the falls on the left, you will see one of the few humans (wearing white) we saw on trail. They were a bit concerned about fording this river and it made me smile to watch them and remember my first time too.
With feet wet and broken in, we practically ran down the next section of trail to hit the bottom of what is perhaps my favorite ravine on Mt. Hood. I think what I love so much about this ravine is that one side is all trees and lush beauty and the other side is nothing but sand and stark rock. It is a deep ravine with snaking trails switch-backing up each side to get in and out of it. There is a huge waterfall at the head of the ravine that pours out of the glaciers on the peak above it. Then there is another waterfall (the one we just crossed) that cascades down to join the river below. From anywhere in the ravine, you hear the sound of crashing water. It is an incredibly peaceful place and not one where you will find many people. As we dropped into the ravine, Josie instantly wanted to pose. She was being quite the glamor girl today!
I must admit, I was a bit disappointed when I hit the ravine's bottom. The river was so much smaller than last time I was here! In fact, instead of being chest deep, it barely hit my knees. I am not sure what was wrong with me, as this fact should have made me happy.....but somehow I had mentally prepared for a re-match with this river and wanted it to be a challenge. I found myself almost looking for the most difficult place to cross. Josie was super excited when we realized there were banks of snow on either side of the river that the waters had cut through. She of course started to chew and lick at the snow banks and then wanted to lie down on them. "There's my Arctic Wolf" I said to her, "Good girl."
We decided to set up a little camp in the bottom of this ravine by the river to have some supper. There is a lot of sand down here along the river which was sticking to my wet boots like glue and trying to work its way into my socks. But the biggest problem we had was that every time we tried to lay down in the sun to dry ourselves out, the sun was moving lower behind the ravine walls behind us and plunging us into shade. We moved again and again, but could not keep up with it! Clearly the sun was in a hurry to go to bed on this evening.
Eventually giving up, we decided to climb back up out of the ravine on the rocky side and see if we could set up a new camp at the top to watch the sun set and read the book I brought about Bigfoot in the Dark Divide. Josie made a few quick poses on the way. (Yes, Miles the Marmot popped out of her backpack for one of these). By the time we got up to the top of the ravine again, most of the bottom was in darkness.
We did find a little sandy nook along side the trail here to set up our camp once again. I was determined to get in some reading time today....reading and hiking....two of my favorite past-times! Dare I say we found a pocket perch???
Once we were high up above the river, it was interesting to see that there was a lot more snow down in the ravine than I initially realized. I almost wanted to go back down and play around on it to see if we could break through it, but time was ticking away quicker than I would have liked. Nova was waiting at home for us and I had promised her we would never leave her overnight while we waited for her knee to heal from surgery so she could join us for a good backpacking trip once again.
We still had quite a number of miles to hike out and another ravine ahead too, so we had to move! I will say that as the sun dropped lower and lower on the horizon the temperatures really plummeted. It truly felt like summer was at the end of itself and winter was going to come barrelling down upon us. I had a hooded puffer jacket and pants in my pack, but I was being too stubborn to stop and put them on. I knew hiking out with still wet boots would drop my temperature further, but when I get stubborn, well I get stubborn. It was going to be a matter of pride for me to suffer myself off the mountain and try not to shiver. As we went, I looked back at the peak to thank him for the day and wish him well.
As if mocking me, even the plants started to change and scream that Fall was here! I am NOT putting on my pants I firmly told them! It is still AUGUST!!!! Luckily no other hikers came by to hear my tirade to the plants on this side of the ravine.
As we approached the next ravine, Josie was so excited she about walked right off the side to plummet down much faster than recommended. Another good reason we stay tied together I suppose!
I must admit that things did very quickly get colder and darker from this moment forward. I did delay some when I found a terrific patch of blueberries, but we otherwise hiked with great forward momentum so that I would not be tempted to pull my extra layers out. I could feel the shivering welling up inside me, but pushed my entire body into a tense, hard ball in order to control the shivering from breaking out on my outside. Let me just say that it is not easy to hike and climb over boulders and roots when your entire body is as tense as a board with every muscle straining to not shiver. It was going to be a mind over matter situation and I was going to win if it killed me. Remember when I told you I don't always make the wisest choices on the trail? Yeah, I can't quite explain it other than in the moment it makes sense to me. When we broke out of the trees at the trailhead and I saw my beloved truck waiting for me with his arms wide open, my body relaxed. As soon as that occurred, every cell started to shake and my teeth started to instantly chatter. As I loaded Josie into the truck and shoved all my gear in, I stuck my thermometer in my mouth out of sheer curiosity. The first reading came in at 93.9 and the next two at 94.2. "Huh." I said out-loud. That is seriously weird for an August hike. Can't wait to see what this winter does to me! At least I will be wearing pants the whole time I suppose. That might be my only saving grace. Good thing I just signed up for some Aflac policies at my work I thought as I started the drive home. Mark my words, hypothermia is what is going to do me in! I wonder if they have a supplemental insurance policy just for that?
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